dancing class in the assembly-room at the principal inn in the town:
the 'George;' and, being daunted by her father in every intellectual
attempt, she read every book that came in her way, almost with as much
delight as if it had been forbidden. For his station in life, Mr.
Gibson had an unusually good library; the medical portion of it was
inaccessible to Molly, being kept in the surgery, but every other book
she had either read, or tried to read. Her summer place of study was
that seat in the cherry-tree, where she got the green stains on her
frock, that have already been mentioned as likely to wear Betty's life
out. In spite of this 'hidden worm i' th' bud,' Betty was to all
appearance strong, alert, and flourishing. She was the one crook in
Miss Eyre's lot, who was otherwise so happy in having met with a
suitable well-paid employment just when she needed it most. But Betty,
though agreeing in theory with her master when he told her of the
necessity of having a governess for his little daughter, was vehemently
opposed to any division of her authority and influence over the child
who had been her charge, her plague, and her delight ever since Mrs.
Gibson's death. She took up her position as censor of all Miss Eyre's
sayings and doings from the very first, and did not for a moment
condescend to conceal her disapprobation. In her heart, she could not
help respecting the patience and painstaking of the good lady,--for a
'lady' Miss Eyre was in the best sense of the word, though in
Hollingford she only took rank as a shopkeeper's daughter. Yet Betty
buzzed about her with the teasing pertinacity of a gnat, always ready
to find fault, if not to bite. Miss Eyre's only defence came from the
quarter whence it might least have been expected--from her pupil; on
whose fancied behalf, as an oppressed little personage, Betty always
based her attacks. But very early in the day Molly perceived their
injustice, and soon afterwards she began to respect Miss Eyre for her
silent endurance of what evidently gave her far more pain than Betty